FDA finds Cyclospora at Mexican lettuce farm linked to multi-state outbreak

U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors reported on Friday that Cyclospora was present in a wastewater tank and a drainage ditch used for lettuce cultivation at a farm in Guanajuato, Mexico. The agency said the findings provide strong epidemiological evidence linking the site to a recent multi-state outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared over, after infecting about 13,000 people, causing 570 hospitalizations and two deaths.

Mexico’s food safety authority previously said its own testing did not detect Cyclospora in lettuce or water from the facility, and the FDA had earlier withdrawn a test result that had mistakenly indicated the parasite in a lettuce sample collected at the border.

The FDA’s visit marks its first inspection of the farm in more than seven years, following a period of reduced international food-safety inspections after the pandemic. Taylor Farms, which supplied the lettuce, said the contamination was traced to an independent grower that is no longer part of its supplier program and that its central-Mexico facility remains closed while enhanced safety protocols are implemented.

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that can cause watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, stomach cramps and other gastrointestinal symptoms.